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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Sunday, August 15, 2010

John and I are having a blast at the Star Wars Celebration here in Orlando this weekend, so I figured I'd keep the theme going with today's Sweets. (Although I'll try to keep the Admiral Ackbar jokes to a minimum.)

C'mon, baby Vader with a pacifier, PLUS a baby R2? This just might be better than our lastVader shower cake. Even if it doesn't make any more sense. Heh.

Oh, and if you like Star Wars, you're going to love my pictures from this weekend over on Epbot. Srsly. Check out the craziness here.

*We think this may actually be R4-P17. We think this because people who seem to know these things told us so. We could be wrong. Who really knows? PS - Hey, Jane F. in Berkeley: Epi Burf Day!! May your day's forecast include lots of sprinkles.

Ugh, I hate that I'm this much of a nerd, but that droid isn't R2-D2. R2-D2 is a specific droid/character, not like, a type of robot. There are other R2 units (and a number of similar looking droids from later in-universe production lines) any number of which might be red, but the individual known as R2-D2 is not.

It might be R2-M5, a red-striped R2 unit which was in The Phantom Menace.

Lightsabers are hard to make! One of my friends and I spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to make one with emoticons. *shifty eyes* Yes, we are huge geeks, why do you ask? Anyway, this is what we came up with:

Count me in as another who blinked and had jaw-drop syndrome when I saw Luke and Leia atop a wedding cake. Arguably, from her outfit you could say this is from the first film, and if someone had only seen the first film, they might not actually *know* that Luke and Leia are brother and sister...but still, dude, seriously?

WV: blessne: what you say when you and someone else sneeze at the same time.

I'm in agreement about the Luke and Leia cake. Only somebody who isn't a real SW fan would make that kind of faux pas. Besides, the roguish and swashbuckling Han is so much cooler than the whiny Luke. What might be awesome for a birthday cake is definitely not kosher on a wedding cake!

...gotta love Sunday Sweets. So great to showcase the totally amazing and beautiful cakes to contrast with the wrecks. Good can overcome evil! I don't know how anyone can cut into such masterpieces. Breaks my heart!

I almost want another boy baby, just so I can have the baby Vader cake! I will definately have to show today's blog to my resident SW superfan. He's going to want that lightsaber cake for his next bday, I just know it.

Those are some of the coolest cakes that I have seen. I was totally geeked out looking at those. But does that one cake company realize that Luke and Leia are siblings? I love that baby cake. That was sooo funny!!!

ok... i feel better knowing that i'm not the only one geeky enough to know that yes, luke & leia on a wedding cake is just a little wrong. gorgeously rendered, but a little yucky.but it's not the cake maker's fault -- if the couple ordering were really that into sw, wouldn't they have specified which characters go on the cake? oh well, it's still a fantastic group of cakes!

Every time I see the Sunday Sweets that are based on movies and whatnot I wonder how much the professional bakeries paid to get past the copyright issues for licensed characters or if they ignore it and hope they don't get in trouble for it...especially if they feature them on their websites. At the shop I work at we can do a cake inspired by licensed material and then put the little toys or what-have-you on so we don't get sued...

my star wars freak sons thoroughly enjoyed this, however, according to one of them the red r2 is actually R4-P17, who appears in the ep 2, and briefly appears in episode 3, before having his head ripped off by a buzz droid in the opening space battle above coruscant.

however, i don't know this, and shall promptly delete it from my memory. (help me)

In Jen's defense, in her caption for the red R2 unit, she wrote "This perfect R2 is . . ." NOT "This perfect R2-D2 is . . ." She used the appropriate general class to refer to the unit.

And to get my geek cred for the day, I checked Wookieepedia. Of the 50ish R2 units, these are the most likely:1) R2-A3 (astromech for Wedge Antilles)2) R2-M5 (aboard Queen Amidala's ship in the Naboo Space Battle)

Amazing! The X-wing cake has shading on it and everything.But, as lovely as it is, the fact that Luke and Leia are on a wedding cake is just a bit disturbing. Maybe the couple hasn't seen the Return of the Jedi. =\ Hmmmmmm.

I don't know if any other commenters picked-up on this, but I believe the lovely red-machine you labeled as an R2 unit is none other than Obe Wan Kenobe's *R4* unit! Why do I say that? Because it's a *4th* birthday cake. Talk about some sweet thinking.

Oh Amazing! I just brought my boys over to see cause they love Star Wars...I even made my oldest a Star Wars cake for his last party, and it was cool, but not half (ok...not even a tenth) as cool as these. (You can see if here...http://texifornia.blogspot.com/2010/03/star-wars-party.html...it's the cupcake tie fighter idea, only I just used one on a regular cake cause one took quite enough time. And yeah, if I'm gonna use yellow icing on black I SHOULD do star wars lettering, but though I can do florishy stuff, I suck at geometrical, and that's too geometrical for me).

Anyways...my boys did want to inform you that the R2D2 cake is actually R3SX. Rocks either way! (Rice Crispy Feet! Aweseomeness!)

I, too, noticed that is Luke and Leia on the wedding cake. Except for that flub they are awesome cakes. I'm a Star Wars nut, too, so this is right up my alley. I just wish they had put Han on the wedding cake........incest is not cool.

Although.... the wedding cake is a little iffy to me since it's Luke and Leia on top of it. I'm guessing the baker didn't really watch the movies or hear that they were brother and sister. I wonder if the bride and groom noticed.

Yeah, that's a nice R2-type cake (though on Google I found a nicer one,) but there's one problem: they paid someone else to make it.

This is possibly the worst-looking R2D2 cake ever made (don't go making it a "wreck," please,) but this kid's mother made it with him, and that's probably what's going to be the best thing that he remembers about that birthday, not, "Daddy spent a lot of money on me.")

http://www.easy-birthday-cakes.com/r2d2-birthday-cake.html

Oh, there's another problem: instead of the ugly block the center is sitting on, he could have put in the R2's center leg: http://planetbizzle.blogspot.com/2009/06/star-wars-cakes.html

Ah, one more thing regarding the Luke and Leia cake. Before Chapter 5 came out, Lucas authorized a book by Alan Dean Foster called, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," in which there is a lot of romantic stuff between the two. They even kiss. I bought it when it first came out.

Somebody wanted to see the worst lightsaber cake ever. Now, this mom did an amazing personal job of designing a Star Wars-themed birthday party her son will never forget, but after all the work she put into it, no matter how much love, the cake was just such a let-down: http://www.makeandtakes.com/star-wars-birthday-party-ideas

:/

I forgot props to the baker who made the x-wing fighter all with real frosting.

I'm way bored. Here's another Luke and Leia cake: http://www.geekologie.com/2008/03/13/wrong-starwars-cake.jpg

Yes, gents, this wedding cake illustrates exactly what will happen to you when we get you in our clutches: http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2010/07/dead-tauntaun-wedding-cake-when-star.html (Cake Nouveau)

And I'm sure everyone's seen this cake of their mother-in-law: http://prewife.com/jabba-hutt-groom-cake/

The baby Vader and R2 cake was precious. I loved the little lightsabers on the side!

Ditto on the Luke/Leia wedding cake. Luke and Mara Jade or Leia and Han would have been the appropriate choice, but I don't think the baker has read the novels. And yes, I do think they are cannon even though many fans don't want to believe that.

The fondant free ones were great too. I love how the lightsaber looks like it's lit up!

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the baker of the so-called "Leia and Luke" cake did not actually intend to make a "Leia and Luke" cake, but instead was mimicking the bride and groom's hair colors, which made it appear to be a "Leia and Luke" cake. I have to believe this - the other explanation is...gross.

Jeebers crisp, that's detail! I always would have thought May 4th to 5th to be the best Star Wars days, but there you go. I can think of how to make a light saber cake in structure but the icing is another question, as is the detail. Any attempt will appear as a failure upon this site. No matter!May the frosting be with you, and do not turn to the dark side of the whisk.

I love the "nerd cakes". Keep them coming. My kids (junior nerds) are big fans of Sunday Sweets. They ask to see first thing on Sunday mornings and seriously were looking forward to Star Wars cakes all week.

BTW, my son made a cool R2 and an R4 out of Perler beads last week. I thought Jen might like to see them.http://malinate.blogspot.com/2010/08/rediscovered.html

Cool cakes...however, I feel the need to point out something about the comment concerning making figures out of gum paste instead of doing the "easy" thing and plopping some plastic characters around it. As cute and amazing as those cakes are, they are probably illegal. Unless a cake baker writes to the company (in this case, LucasFilm...you know, small company... folks who surely don't care too much about licensing...) and pays lotsa $$ for the rights to create the images, a baker cannot *legally* create any licensed image that will be sold to someone else-- even if that something is consummable, like cake. So please give us cake bakers a break here and don't issue blanket statements that sound like not shelling out thousands of dollars for the right to sell a cake with a licensed image is the "easy" way. I know we see cakes with characters on them all over the place all the time..some amazing, like these, and some.....well, not so amazing. If the cake you see a photo of was sold for money (in other words, not made by mom herself and eaten in her own house), then the cake is illegal, and the cake baker is risking losing everything they have over a little cake. Most people do it anyway, thinking no one cares, and no one will find out about THEIR little small potato cake shop anyway... until their photo gets posted on the internet by some website... ;) Suddenly Disney et. all. comes knocking on their door with a $50,000 law suit. (And yes, it's happening, with increasing frequency lately.) Unless you're someone like Duff who can afford to apply for the licensing fees because your minimum order is thousands of dollars per cake, it's just not feasible for us small guys.

I don't know quite what to say. I think you took what was an incredibly harmless statement and turned it into far more than was ever intended. Placing a plastic figurine on a cake is indeed easier than sculpting a figure by hand. That's all that was meant I assure you.

Regarding the issue of legality, you are correct. I would love to argue about fair use and parody, about the technicalities and incredibly vague language involved in copyright law but, in the end, it's always safer to not use any image you don't own the rights to. I do have to say, though, that one is far more likely to receive a cease and desist order than for a corporation to go through the time and incredible expense to sue a small bakery. Just saying...

Oh, no worry, no offense taken. :) I just see these as opportunities to get the word out a little, because LITERALLY I get requests several times a week for character cakes, and I have to write back the same "not legally allowed to do that, yeah, I know you see those cakes all over the place, blah, blah, blah, yeah, you can likely call the next baker on your list and she'll make that cake for you, but it's still illegal, blah blah blah..." But that next baker doesn't happen to be married to a lawyer who happens to have lunch with a patent attorney friend who happens to be one who is involved in patent suits. Sooooooo....I'm well versed in what I can and cannot legally do as a cake business. :-)

And I really agree about right of fair use..it ticks me off every time I think about it. Especially the issue of using those shaped Wilton character cake pans, which are not supposed to be used for anything other than "home use" either. If I BUY that cake pan, shouldn't I do with it what I want, if I make it according to the prescribed directions and not make Mickey Mouse giving an obscene gesture?

I find it completely and totally squicky that a *wedding* cake has Luke and Leia on top of it. Dude. Are you seriously from West Virginia, or what? A brother & sister should not be sitting together on top of a wedding cake. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Speaking of Ace of Cakes, they also did an amazing R2 Unit (I think it was the real R2-D2, but I'll leave it to the true Star Wars experts to confirm) for LucasFilms. It was related to the Clone Wars animated series.

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